Traveling across planet Mira in Nintendo’s latest Xenoblade game may seem incredibly daunting at first. You’re given a lot of missions to keep you close to home and some pretty big, scary, aliens roam the plains around the city of New LA. Are they aliens if you’re on their home planet? I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. Today we’re taking a look at what it’s like to play Nintendo’s latest exploration JRPG!
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This year was great, but when can I play all of these games?
Posted on December 31, 2015 by Chelsea Richards
Let’s be real, 2015 was a fantastic year for gaming. Of course, there were some misses like the monetization for Battlefront and EVOLVE, and… whatever the hell happened to the PC release of Arkham Knight. But, stepping away from those, it’s after Christmas, so let’s look at our definite hits that we have, and enjoy 2015’s gifts to us.
We were rewarded with not-one-but-two solid MMO expansions, through Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, and Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, both building significantly on the groundwork by their previous launches and content updates. Keeping in the multiplayer line, we were graced with StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, Rocket League, Heroes of the Storm, and Nintendo’s smash hit of Splatoon.Read More
Batman: Arkham Knight Final Fantasy XiV: Heavensward Games with Gold Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain PC PlayStation Plus PS4 The Witcher III: Wild Hunt Wii U Xenoblade Chronicles X
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Pokken Tournament Gets Its Own Controller In North America
Posted on December 29, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards
Ninndo and Namco’s collaborative Pokemon themed fighting game, Pokken Tournament will be receiving its own official controller manufactured by long peripheral company Hori. The controller is based upon the arcade cabinet’s button layout and was previously announced for release in Japan.
If you want to get your hands on the official Pokken Tournament Controller you won’t have to look in any tall grass – they are available for pre order on Amazon for $25 USD. Currently they have a ship date of March 18th 2016, which has been confirmed as the Japanese release date for the game, no solid date for a North American release currently exists outside of a vague “Q2 2016” window.
Pokken Tournament was originally released in Japanese arcades in July of this year.
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Minecraft Wii U Is Already Among The All Time Top 10 Downloads In Japan
Posted on December 27, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards
Mojang’s smash hit about your struggle to survive the night all while hissing snake creatures try to blow up your home, Minecraft, has already cracked the top ten all time downloads in the Japanese Wii U E Shop.
According to the all time download purchase rankings available on the Nintendo Japan website Microsoft’s latest acquisition already sits among such system sellers as Super Mario Maker, Super Smash Bros for Wii U, Mario Kart 8 and classics like Super Mario World. Perhaps Minecraft players can fashion themselves a ladder to get their favorite game even higher on the charts.
Here’s the full breakdown of the top ten best selling digital Wii U games of all time in Japan as of today:
- Splatoon
- Dragon Quest X
- Pokemon Rumble U
- Super Mario Maker
- Art Academy Sketchpad
- Mario Kart 8
- Super Mario World (SNES)
- NES Remix
- Minecraft Wii U
- Super Smash Bros
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Nintendo Unveils The Miiverse’s Top 3 Games For Wii U / 3DS
Posted on December 20, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards
Nintendo has unveiled the most popular games as measured via traffic on their Miiverse social media website / Wii U application. This year didn’t feature the two big marquee releases for Wii U – Star Fox: Zero and The Legend of Zelda Wii U, as both of those games got delayed into 2016. However, it was strong year nonetheless for both platforms with releases including the surprise hit Splatoon, the ever inventive Mario Maker, monsters causing mayhem in Monster Hunter 5 on Nintendo 3DS among other great titles.
So which games made the top 3 per platform? I won’t leave you in suspense… according to Nintendo the top 3 choices according to fans on Miiverse where:
Wii U
- Splatoon
- Super Mario Maker
- Xenoblade Chrincles X
3DS
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D
- The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes
- Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
Did any of these top six games surprise you? For me, it’s not shocking to see Xenoblade in the top 3 for Wii U even though the game has only been out for under two weeks. Fans have been anticipating its release ever since it was revealed several E3s ago. I also really enjoyed the fresh kicks that Splatoon introduced over the summer – with its focus on team based objectives rather than traditional KDR it was a refreshing take on the established Team Death Match formula. Now that I think about it, my family ended up purchasing almost all of these games…
Did your favorite Nintendo titles make the cut? Check out the graphics Nintendo shared on Miiverse below:
[Source]
3ds Fan Favorite Games Miiverse Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Nintendo Splatoon Super Mario Maker The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes Wii U Xenoblade Chrincles X
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Comcept Unloads A Barrage of Mighty Number 9 Screenshots
Posted on December 17, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards
Comcept the developer behind the Kickstarted Mega Man spiritual successor Mighty Number 9 has released a whole set of brand new screenshots for your viewing pleasure. We’ve got an entire gallery containing all of the high-rez colorful screnshots at the bottom of this post.
Mighty Number 9 was originally revealed back in September 2013 and reached its funding goal only after 2 days. With gameplay that is reminiscent of Keiji Inafune’s former Capcom creation, long time platform veterans and those familiar with his other works should have no problem jumping right into protagonist Beck’s shoes. This past August the project was delayed from a September 2015 release into February of next year for most versions of Mighty Number 9. It will be released on Windows PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, OSX, Linux. Wii U and at a later date PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS.
3ds kickstarter Linux Mac OSX Mighty Number 9 New Screenshots ps vita PS3 PS4 Wii U Xbox 360 Xbox One
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Shovel Knight Amiibo To Be Released January 8th In North America
Posted on December 8, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards
Yacht Club Game’s Shovel Knight will make his amiibo debut on January 8th in North America and December 11th in Europe the developers have announced via their blog. The reason for the almost month long gap between launches in the two territories stems from an issue with the figure’s production. Rather than only ship a limited supply to North America for Christmas Nintendo & Yacht Club Games have decided to post-pone the figures release.
Once you get your hands on the blue digging hero what can he be used for? Here’s a rundown of everything you can do with your new blue friend once you have him:
Deep Customization with Custom Knight! (Wii U / 3DS Ver of Shovel Knight)
- Level up to a max level of 50 by finding treasure!
- Earn relics in an all new way while uncovering all-new relics, abilities, and powers you never thought possible!
- Customize the look of your Shovel Knight with cool and crazy cosmetic options!
- Use your Custom Knight seamlessly between Nintendo 3DS and Wii U!
Cooperative Multiplayer (exclusive to Wii U)
- Join a friend’s Shovel Knight campaign and shovel together!
- Use your cooperative skills to help each other out along the way!
- Compete against each other collecting gold and defeating enemies to prove who is the true hero of Shovelry!
- Play with any combination: two Custom Knights, one Custom Knight/one Classic Knight, or 2 Classic Knights.
Will compatibility for the Shovel Knight Amiibo go beyond the 3DS ports of the game that bears his name sake? Right now we don’t have a definite answer to that question – rumors surfaced last August before the official reveal of the figure suggesting that Shovel Knight may in fact appear in Smash. Nintendo has made no official announcement of Shovel Knight as a playable character in Smash Bros – the last officially announced character was Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII during last month’s Nintendo Direct.
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[Source]
3ds amiibo European Amiibo Release Launch Date North American Amiibo Release Shovel Knight Shovel Knight Amiibo Shovel Knight In Smash Bros Wii U
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Super Smash Bros. U – Cloud storms into battle!
Posted on November 12, 2015 by Tamsin Heineman
Some astounding news on the Smash Bros front today. In one heck of an unexpected move, Cloud from Final Fantasy VII has been added to their ever expanding roster!’
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Wii U Emulator Cemu V 1.01 Update Brings Faster Game Loading
Posted on October 25, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards
Wii U Emulator Cemu Update Brings Faster Game Loading
A few weeks ago the world’s first Nintendo Wii U emulator Cemu hit the scene and now the program’s developer has released version 1.01 which brings with it enhanced loading times and graphical improvements.
If you are expecting to play the latest Nintendo releases on your PC with Cemu you might be a little disappointed. However, the emulator does support encrypted disc images which means that testers have got games like Mario Kart 8 and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD to load up until their “press start” screens.
As of right now there is no controller customization and all of the gamepad functionality is locked on to the keyboard. There is also no audio support in this early build of the emulator. Also potential users who are using AMD processors are out of luck, currently loading Cemu will result in a black screen.
Here’s the full list of changes from V 1.01:
Changelog:
1.0.1:
- Improved accuracy of shader emulation
- Implemented many system functions leading to higher compatibility
- Added support for statically loading and linking multiple RPX/RPL files (WUD only for now)
With the release of the latest the community has already took to YouTube to show off some of the changes. Here’s a brief video clip showcasing the improved shader emulation in action:
[youtube id=”Qzzo3qGuCfQ”]
Will Nintendo strike down the Cemu due to the fact that the Wii U is still struggling in the marketplace? Generally emulators have been safe from legal action in the past, with the exception being those that require the BIOS files (internal firmware) dumped from a console’s memory.
The UCLA Journal of Law and Technology summed up the PlayStation emulator situation thusly:
For emulators of the Playstation, however, it is the emulator itself that has drawn the ire of Sony, maker of the Playstation console. Sony’s attack against Playstation emulators is based on the fact that the emulators requires a copy of the Playstation basic input/output system (BIOS) in order the function properly. Because the BIOS is copyrighted by Sony, emulators that utilize an image file of the Playstation BIOS or was developed using information reverse engineered from a Playstation bios are illegal.
Nintendo has been known to actively target sites and individuals that provide the images of their games (ROMS / ISO) available to the public. There also was the famous ULTRAHLE legal issues from the ‘90s where Nintendo took on the developers of one of the first N64 emulators. According to Standford University this may have actually lead to a legal precedent regarding the availability of emulators:
This was not a lawsuit per se: Nintendo never sued Epsilon and RealityMan, the authors of the UltraHLE Nintendo 64 emulator (it is common for figures in the emulation community to go by pseudonyms), but were considering doing so for about a month earlier this year. The company decided not to pursue legal action in early March, but the threat of a Nintendo lawsuit may have been one factor in the developers’ decision to remove UltraHLE from the Internet only hours after it was initially posted online. Had Nintendo decided to sue, the case would undoubtedly have been a precedent setting one for the legality of software emulation.
We will keep an eye on the Cemu situation and perhaps one day it will become advanced enough to become as ubiquitous as the Dolphin Emulator which has provided us with some absolutely stunning up-rez’d versions of Nintendo Wii / GameCube games.
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Super Mario Maker Drives Wii U Sales Up 110% For September!
Posted on October 21, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards
Sales of Nintendo’s current generation platform, the Wii U increased an impressive 110% when compared with August 2015. Nintendo attributes this absolutely impressive uptick in sales to the release of Super Mario Maker which has moved over 500,000 units in the U.S.A since launching on September 11th.
To quote Nintendo’s press-release, since they put it best:
Perhaps the biggest impact however has been on hardware sales. For the full month of September, sales of Wii U hardware in the United States increased by nearly 110 percent over sales in August. Software sells hardware and no one sells hardware like Mario.
Super Mario Maker sales data weren’t the only numbers included in Nintendo’s latest release. We also got some numbers for Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer which solved over 115,000 units in its first week of release.
Don’t forget that if you haven’t picked up Happy Home Designer it is also part of a special bundle with the smaller New Nintendo 3DS and an exclusive Isabelle faceplate!
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Hands on with Zen Pinball 2: Balls of Glory | Review
Posted on October 20, 2015 by Erika
First off, I want to say that I’m a huge pinball fan since I got an Atari 2600 with Virtual Pinball back in 1995. I’d spend hours playing on it trying for a high score, so when I’m able to go to an arcade, I always hit up the pinball sections to see how high of a score I can get. So imagine my surprise when I was given an opportunity to try a themed pinball set for Zen Pinball 2.
After downloading the Fox Digital Entertainment Balls of Glory corroboration pack for Zen Pinball 2(ZP2), it came with four following boards to try out: Archer, Family Guy, American Dad, and Bob’s Burgers. At first glance, I noticed the most recently announced Archer board, and as being a big Archer fan, I immediately started it up to play. After starting it up, Archer’s theme played to my delight.
What Archer fan wouldn’t love to be able to play this?
With standard pinball fare, the player is able to rack up points by hitting bumpers, and by trying to complete minigames by hitting certain bumpers and objects a certain number of times, or though certain timed events. As an example for the latter, Archer’s cell phone rings and if you can light up the two small bumpers that are to the right of it, Archer will send it to one of his voicemail soundboards. It can be quite entertaining to listen to the small touches like this that the developers have put into the boards. One of the more unique minigames though is where it’s a first-person persepctive of Archer and you’re trying to shoot terrorists with a very limited ammo supply, all the while not trying to shoot friendly targets.
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Nintendo Launching Splatoon & Mario Kart 8 Bundle In Europe
Posted on October 8, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards
Nintendo Europe has unveiled a brand new retail bundle for their latest console which includes a black 32GB Wii U, a digital copy of Splatoon and a pre-installed copy of last year’s surprise hit Mario Kart 8. According to their official press release the Marrio Kart + Splatoon Premium Bundle will see a limited release across Europe starting October 30th and is subject to availability. This makes it sound like this bundle might be a limited time thing – so if you haven’t jumped on the Wii U yet here is your chance to pick up two of the system’s games along with the console itself.
As of the writing of this article no pricing has been announced and was not available via Press Release or Nintendo’s official website.
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Star Fox Zero Locks-On To A New Release Date
Posted on September 17, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards
It looks like Star Fox fans will be waiting just a little bit longer before they can pilot their Arwings on Nintendo’s latest console as Star Fox Zero has slipped into the first quarter of 2016.
This news comes via IGN.com which reports that legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto is quoted in the following statement regarding the game’s development. It seems that Nintendo needs a bit more time to add some polish to the dual screen experience and cut-scenes.
“We have been developing Star Fox Zero for Wii U with the aim of releasing it this year, Although we felt that the development had been progressing well, we now believe that we will need a little more time to work on areas such as the unprecedented discovery that we want players to experience in the game by using two screens, and further polishing the level designs and perfecting the tone of the cut scenes.”
Star Fox Zero was originally revealed at E3 2014 and was featured prominently during Nintendo’s treehouse live segments during the show. The game takes several design cues from Star Fox 64 and includes the ability to transform the Arwing into a walker, similar to core mechanic from the cancelled SNES title Star Fox 2.
No specific release date for Star Fox 0 is currently available, previously it was scheduled for a November 20th release.
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Watch Nintendo’s XenoBlade Chronicles X Panel
Posted on August 30, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards
Nintendo held an hour long presentation for their upcoming open world RPG Xenoblade Chronicles X at PAX Prime in Seattle this weekend and they’ve posted the entire presentation on YouTube for all to Enjoy.
The majority of this presentation focused on the evolution of the game’s art style over the course of development. Members of the North American localization team were on hand to walk us through early character designs all the way through to the final versions seen in the game. We also got an early look at New Los Angeles, the main hub world of Xenoblade Chronicles X from conception through implementation. For those unfamiliar with the game watching this panel is a great way to get to know some of the alien races you’ll encounter.
A special edition of Xenoblade Chornicles X was teased through the entire presentation and then finally revealed at the panel. It will include a full 7 inch x 11 inch artbook featuring over 100 pieces of concept art, a 10 track soundtrack loaded onto a custom USB drive and a postcard featuring Xenoblade artwork done in the style of 1970s and 1980s sci-fi.
No price for the special edition has been announced and a quick check on a few Canadian retailers does not show any listings for it yet. The standard edition of Xenoblade Chronicles X will be released on Wii U on December 4th for $69.99.
Check out the full presentation below:
[youtube id=”4HKncIY9Jn4″]
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Star Fox Zero Targets a November Releas Date
Posted on August 25, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards
Star Fox pilots prepare to scramble towards your Arwings for a November 20th launch date! That’s right Nintendo’s upcoming reimagining of Fox McCloud and friends – Star Fox Zero – arrives on the Wii U this winter.
The game was revealed during this summer’s E3 Nintendo Direct and was also the focus of several lengthy Nintendo Treehouse presentations during the convention.
Zero marks the return to the skies for the franchise after almost a decade without a proper console release as well as the addition of the Arwing Walker mode from the cancelled SNES title Star Fox 2 allowing pilots to take on foes in both aerial and land battles.
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